Post 3: Varying Immigration Experiences

America was commonly known as the land of opportunity, or sometimes simply, the land of better wages.  Though many different people came here for different reasons, with different motivations, and in fact experienced life differently after their settlement.  

For instance, Jewish immigrants came because they were commonly denoted as the "other" group of people back in their home land.  They were commonly a persecuted ethnic minority, and usually felt that they were not able to return to their homeland.    They lived in what was called the "Pale of the Settlement,"  a region that bordered the culture with boundaries with forces just beyond.    Their towns were dangerous, and violence was common in the form of pogroms, large bloody massacres.   

What brought their travels to America were hopes of freedom, and opportunity.  Children and families were among the newcomers, often residing in New York's lower east side.  But this place called home  was different than what they were used to.  New York was a fast paced place to live, "an American atmosphere of breakneck speed and breathless enterprise."    Their newly placed Shtetl in America was "packed" with people, as they were living in the same home with tens of others. Their trades in the city brought entrepreneurial spirit, commonly involving their sewing skills.  Others, took part in working at sweatshops, where work was "physically punishing."

Jewish immigrants were commonly kept from entering schools, such as Harvard, and were rarely promoted to the white collar job market.   Though, Jewish people commonly embraced the US possibilities and strived to assimilate and to become American.

Mexican migrators had a different story.   While they also saw America as the land of opportunity, they knew they hadn't do much to get their.   Passing the border was easy for many, and roads into the country were usually flooded with people moving for a better life.  

But was life really better?  The "Estados Unidos" was a land of wealth and prosperity,  and after all, the Mexicans were leaving a life driven by unfair land owners deemed as "robbers" and even dangers of violence after the Mexican Revolution.   Still, people had hopes to come to America and still be Mexican, not to assimilate to the American culture. 

Mexicans were commonly kept from many types of work in the US.   In our readings, one man describes how he could never be a carpenter.   In fact, Mexicans claimed only 5% of managerial occupations in the US while Anglos held nearly 30% in 1920.     Women also worked in steel packing houses, garment factories, and even automobile assembly plants, but most help positions in agriculture.   Land owners here believed they could take advantage of the Mexicans, one saying "The Mexican cannot be driven like he Negro, but anyone who knows how to manage them can get more work out of them than any other class."   

Strikes were common among Mexican workers, as the previously described attitude was a usual for bosses and managers.  Segregation was not only commonly in the workplace, but also throughout  life.   Mornings for students would begin as they traversed off into their Mexican only schools, in their Mexican towns within their "Mexican borders," (the barrio) very similiar to the way that they lived in Mexico.  But it is important to know that these people did not want to assimilate and to become American.  They desired to keep their own cultures and to keep their own community.   Mexican holidays were also continuing to be practiced, such as Mexican Independence Day.   Overall, these people were looked down upon by Anglos, and were commonly segregated from the varying US peoples.